9
968words
A year later.
A fellow villager who came for an overseas assignment study joined our company.By chance,we met.
I had gotten much darker over the years abroad and was keen on fitness.I was very different from my weak and gentle appearance in the past.It was amazing that she still recognized me.
She talked non-stop about what happened after I left,saying that she heard it from her mother and relatives.
My parents found that I was gone the next day.
They thought I had gone to the company to work.When they saw the nanny bringing people to clear out the house,they realized that something was wrong.
They wanted to go to the company to find me,but they found that they didn't even know what I did for a living,where the company was,and my phone number was out of service.
The money from selling the house had already been transferred to my card.My parents were driven out,and I also sold off the furniture.
They could only take away some clothes that I didn't want and some worthless sundries.
Back in their hometown,my parents moved back to my elder sister's place.
Some things,once you give them up at the beginning,you won't have a chance to get them back later.
Just like when they didn't speak up when my room was occupied,now their room was also easily taken over.
My parents had to live in the utility room where I used to live.
My elder sister and brother-in-law's room had been turned into a nursery.
My mother often told people in the community that I was an ungrateful wretch who went abroad without saying goodbye while living under the same roof and left them nothing.
They say it's easy to go from frugality to luxury,but difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
My mother was used to the life of being served by a nanny at my place.After going back,except for occasionally holding her grandson,she didn't do any housework.
All the cooking,washing dishes,and other chores fell on my father.
As my father did more,he also got emotional and often went out to play cards and didn't come home.
Yes,I did all of this on purpose.I deliberately put aside past grudges and let my mother live a life of being served.
I also accurately predicted that my elder sister and younger sister,who were spoiled,would be fearless.
A group of people tied together by interests would fall apart with just a gentle push.
When my brother-in-law came home from work and saw that there was nothing cooked at home,the conflict erupted immediately.
My elder sister broke down emotionally and blamed everything on my parents,saying that they were getting lazier and only knew how to enjoy themselves all day long without considering their children's feelings.
My mother argued that she had given all the houses to my elder sister,and I,who got nothing,provided them with a big house,hired a nanny,and let them eat well and not do any housework.
My elder sister mocked my mother,saying that since she thought I was so good,why didn't she go abroad with me?Was it because she wasn't invited?
After all,it was because my elder sister wasn't capable and chose such a spineless man as my brother-in-law.
My mother was so angry that she said something she didn't mean.
The brother-in-law,who had always been submissive,finally exploded.
He said that if it wasn't for the demolition of our family,he would never have been willing to come to this poor and remote place where he couldn't even find a good job.
Then he went to the police station to change his son's surname to his own.
My mother wailed and cried.This was really stabbing her right in the heart.
My elder sister also resented the fact that she was forced to stay at home in the first place.How many capable men would be willing to marry into a woman's family?
In the end,after arguing,they drove my parents out of the house.
My parents wanted to ask my younger sister for support,but when my younger sister heard their purpose,she didn't open the door no matter how hard they knocked.
Now the whole family had completely become the laughingstock of the community.
"Back then,they showed off their three daughters to us and said they didn't care about having a son.Look,what's the use?"
"Exactly.They also kept saying that their children graduated from famous universities.What's the use?"
"..."
My parents were old after all.They couldn't hold out for long.The big house had been transferred to my elder sister's name on the day her son was born.
They could only take back the small house that was originally prepared for me from the tenant and live in it first.
My mother had originally thought that since I was a married daughter and didn't have her surname,the house she gave me was the smallest and had the worst orientation.
She didn't expect that it would end up hurting herself.
The fellow villager talked with great interest.
I didn't know how much of it was true.After all,what did it matter to me now?I was far away,and they couldn't find me.
When they needed to be supported,I would contact a lawyer in China and transfer money to them irregularly according to the minimum standard every month.
Then I would specifically remind them not to be vain and compare with others.
I would deliberately delay the transfer to let them know that it wasn't easy for me to earn money,so that they could remember my kindness in the future.
I once asked my mother a question—You're now betting everything on my elder sister and younger sister like you're placing a bet.
Aren't you afraid of regretting it in the future?
She said faintly,"The road is chosen by oneself,and one has to walk it on one's knees."I hope she will keep her word.
